Progression
by Jargonelle
Summary: One shot: Mokuba thinks he has met his perfect match. Mokuba x Princess Adina.


Progression by Jargonelle  
  
One-shot: Mokuba thinks he has met his perfect match. Mokuba x Princess Adina.  
  
Warnings: Adina is a virtual, fully programmable character, but Mokuba doesn't get beyond kissing her (he's much too young and big brother is watching him. Seto wouldn't let this go too far).  
  
Written for Loki-chan's challenge – Switchshipping – Mokuba x Princess Adina, under the KG name Marcie.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!  
  
~~  
  
"Mokuba... Wake up... Please..."  
  
Mokuba opened his eyes slowly; he felt like he had been asleep for years.  
  
The pleasant scent of flowery perfume tickled at his nose, and he sat up, looking for the source of the gentle voice that had been calling his name.  
  
There she was, sitting at his bedside. His Princess.  
  
"Hi..." he said weakly.  
  
"Oh thank goodness," she squealed and gave him a quick, polite hug. Regaining her composure, she drew away, folded her hands in her lap and looked at him earnestly. "You saved me and my people from certain death. What could I possibly do to repay you?"  
  
"Mary, you don't have to do anything. I wanted to help."  
  
The Princess gasped and clutched one hand to her chest. "You know my real name?"  
  
Mokuba smiled, "Of course. I really like you, you know."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"I think I love you Mary... though I'm not sure I know what love is. Sometimes I look at you and I think that there couldn't be anyone more perfectly formed in this entire world. You're the only reason I came, and are the only thing I'll be disappointed to leave behind."  
  
"I love you too Mokuba, my hero."  
  
She left her chair to sit next to him on the bed, blushing furiously, unable to meet his eyes.  
  
He brought a hand beneath her chin, guiding her face until their gazes met. With his spare hand, he carefully removed her coronet, allowing her dark hair to fall freely, as his was.  
  
"Thank you," she said, before drawing him into his first kiss.  
  
Which was when it all turned black.  
  
~~  
  
Seto Kaiba was like an elephant; he never forgot.  
  
He remembered the trouble the Big 5 had caused him, even though their remains were but a speck on his distant dark past. He hated living by other people's rules and expectations and he was tired of bureaucrats taking his game designs and turning them into weapons to use against him. He was going to take every single thing they had ever warped and return them all to their pure, innocent forms.  
  
That included his virtual reality RPG / Duel Monsters simulation currently being reworked under the tentative title, 'Legendary Heroes'.  
  
Gozaburo may have commissioned the initial pod design and those working for his board of directors may have added some of the details, but the dream had always been Seto's and he was going to reclaim it.  
  
It would be good for Duel Monsters in any case. Popularity was waning and Kaiba's interest in the game had dropped after he had heard the story Yugi had spun about the Pharaoh regaining his memories and leaving the Millennium Puzzle. This added a new dimension to Duel Monsters, which would, hopefully, liven things up until the next craze came along for KaibaCorp to take advantage of.  
  
The only regret he had about revamping Legendary Heroes was that he had let Mokuba get too involved, too early in the project.  
  
His little brother, obviously not traumatized by his previous experiences in the game, had wanted to be consulted about all the changes made to 'his' character, as he called her.  
  
"She's obviously supposed to be me, so I think I should decide what happens to her."  
  
That particular plea had struck Kaiba as important.  
  
In his version of the game, the Princess Adina had been based upon Mokuba certainly; he was the only child Kaiba had ever had close contact with and provided welcome inspiration. Yet he had not wanted it to be too obvious – the Princess had been designed with long, stereotypically blonde hair and bright blue eyes. The later, dark-haired version must have been altered by the Big 5, perhaps to frighten Kaiba. Adina was meant to be a sacrifice after all.  
  
Kaiba had toyed with the idea of changing her back, but Mokuba was already prepared to fight for her and so he let the notion slide. In fact, it pleased him; Mokuba was showing interest in learning how to develop a game and Kaiba was more than willing to teach him, when he had the time.  
  
And so, Mokuba was left in charge of Princess Adina.  
  
He supervised the animators who worked on her and spent hours lightening and darkening the yellow on her dress, trying to find the colour that suited her best. He scrappily rewrote her dialogue and insisted upon finding a proper voice actress for her because the only voices the computer database provided were rather flat and irritating. In the end, he wound up speaking her lines himself and then having the sound editors refine them to sound a little more feminine, since no one fully embodied his ideals for the Princess. He spent time in the pods in the simulation, testing out various interactions with her to see how smooth and natural they felt.  
  
He was obsessed with her; she was his creation, his perfection.  
  
Seto Kaiba missed the signs – he had a million other problems to deal with, not least, what was going to happen to KaibaCorp when Duel Monsters finally became a worthless franchise. He wasn't ready to fully commit to the virtual reality systems until he had proof they would be profitable – and he wouldn't have that until the success or failure of Legendary Heroes had been determined. Despite his misgivings, he had sanctioned research into possible non-gaming applications for his technology and he was spending most of his time analysing the masses of alternative possibilities.  
  
The KaibaCorp employees weren't too worried either. They had seen Seto's obsession with the Blue Eyes White Dragon and just chalked Mokuba's craze up to a family trait. They figured that it would die down when Mokuba returned to school and that then they would be left to finish off the work on their own.  
  
They were wrong.  
  
~~  
  
There were seven endings to the Legendary Heroes game, depending on the number of players and the performance of the team.  
  
The first one, the theoretically most probable one, was that in a multiplayer game, at least one team member would 'die' during the final battle, but that the team would eventually succeed.  
  
That was Mokuba's least favourite ending.  
  
Apparently, the public would not like it if those who 'died' were permanently removed from the game, especially when the team was victorious. Apparently, it would make a good plot twist for Princess Adina to turn out to be a Duel Monster herself, of sorts, who could take the form of the Mystical Elf to revive the players. Adina would leave behind her human form and become a Monster.  
  
No, Mokuba did not like that ending.  
  
His favourite ending by far was ending six (ending seven was the result when all the players had died. It was a cut-scene showing darkness taking over the entire world with an evil laugh mocking the player's ineptitude in the background – voiced by none other than Seto Kaiba). Ending six was the 'secret' ending, only available in a solo game; completing the sub quest to find the Princess' real name, Mary, unlocked it and it meant that the game would finish with a fairytale kiss.  
  
Seto only agreed to the addition of the kiss because it would appeal to teenage boys (and old men), who were KaibaCorp's key target market. It was one of the few details about the game that already been leaked to the press in an attempt to boost publicity. Adina herself would be aged a few years for that final scene – a kind of role reversal in the Sleeping Beauty scenario - but that was not written into the code yet, so she still looked Mokuba's age.  
  
The sub quest was extremely difficult to complete. Other than the Kaiba brothers, only three people knew all seventeen triggers, and they had all been warned that the secret was worth more than their lives were. Mokuba was glad, he didn't want other people kissing his Princess. She was supposed to be his alone.  
  
~~  
  
It had just passed midnight when Mokuba slipped out of his bedroom.  
  
He wore soft slippers that made little noise in the softly carpeted hallways, and he had gone to the trouble of constructing a cover story in case Seto found him. Mokuba had intentionally left his school bag in the room where a couple of the virtual pods had been set up so that the Kaiba brothers could work on Legendary Heroes at home. If Seto caught him, he would merely be going to retrieve it.  
  
He had been strictly forbidden, of course, from using the virtual system alone. It had been infiltrated more than once and Seto was not willing to risk anyone's safety if it had been compromised again, especially Mokuba's.  
  
Mokuba slid into 'his' pod, which had been adjusted to account for his slighter shorter than average height. All of his saved data was waiting for him at the touch of a button.  
  
He lay down and let the glass capsule surround him. The neural connectors, he didn't understand how they worked, attached themselves to his skin, to monitor his heart rate and other responses to the program. There was nothing to worry about – they would disconnect and shut off the system if he was in any real danger.  
  
He closed his eyes and relaxed as the familiar, comforting computer- automated introduction began running.  
  
"Welcome, Mokuba. Legendary Heroes save-file will recommence in three... two... one..."  
  
~~  
  
"Mokuba... Wake up... Please..."  
  
Mokuba opened his eyes slowly; he felt like he had been asleep for years.  
  
The pleasant scent of flowery perfume tickled at his nose, and he sat up, looking for the source of the gentle voice that had been calling his name.  
  
There she was, sitting at his bedside. His Princess.  
  
"Hi..." he said weakly.  
  
"Oh thank goodness," she squealed and gave him a quick, polite hug. Regaining her composure, she drew away, folded her hands in her lap and looked at him earnestly. "You saved me and my people from certain death. What could I possibly do to repay you?"  
  
"Mary, you don't have to do anything. I wanted to help."  
  
The Princess gasped and clutched one hand to her chest. "You know my real name?"  
  
Mokuba smiled, "Of course. I really like you, you know."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"I think I love you Mary... though I'm not sure I know what love is. Sometimes I look at you and I think that there couldn't be anyone more perfectly formed in this entire world. You're the only reason I came, and are the only thing I'll be disappointed to leave behind."  
  
"I love you too Mokuba, my hero."  
  
She left her chair to sit next to him on the bed, blushing furiously, unable to meet his eyes.  
  
He brought a hand beneath her chin, guiding her face until their gazes met. With his spare hand, he carefully removed her coronet, allowing her dark hair to fall freely, as his was.  
  
"Thank you," she said, before drawing him into his first kiss, for the hundredth time.  
  
Which was when it all turned red.  
  
~~  
  
The virtual world flickered and died, the Princess and her beautiful home were ruthlessly extinguished as if they meant nothing.  
  
Mokuba swallowed, reflexively, guiltily. Seto had found him.  
  
"Hey big brother, I..."  
  
"Save it Mokuba," Seto replied wearily. He looked exhausted, exasperated and envious all at the same time. At least, to Mokuba's eyes he did, all anyone else would have noticed was the anger.  
  
Mokuba obediently remained silent, watching as his brother shut down all the computer consoles in the room, giving their systems a break for the first time in weeks.  
  
"I know you don't want there to be any mistakes or glitches in the game, but we've still got weeks of testing left before it gets anywhere near the public market. The work's good – don't lose sleep over it."  
  
'Not like I am,' was left unsaid.  
  
Seto suddenly found that Mokuba's arms were wrapped lovingly around his waist. "Of course I won't. I'm sorry for worrying you." Mokuba rued having to deceive his brother, but he reasoned that agreeing to Seto's hastily formed conclusions would be a lot less damaging for both parties than explaining the truth would.  
  
"That's okay kid. Just go get some sleep now. It'll all still be here in the morning."  
  
His back still to Seto, a smile burst out across Mokuba's face. That last comment was the first thing his brother had been right about in the entire conversation, she would still be here in the morning.  
  
He would be back. Maybe not the next day, or the day after that, but soon enough.  
  
His Princess could afford to wait forever.  
  
She was perfect that way.  
  
THE END  
  
(Hmmm... what d'ya think? I think I lost something essential about Mokuba here (possibly his sanity) – can anyone help me identify it?) 


End file.
